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* See the Top 14 All-models ranking by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Alex *

Thanks to Alex we are going back in time 25 years today because I can finally share with you for the first time on BSCB official models data for the USSR in the eighties! This is extremely rare data, detailing the private sales of all models in the country for 1987 and 1988 which you can check out in another post. I hope you enjoy it! In 1987, 819,960 new vehicles were sold to private buyers, to which you have to add 197,250 to state organizations, intelligence services and the army. However detailed models data for the latter is unknown.

Moskvich 2140

And the first surprise in the 1987 models ranking is to see that the VAZ 2106 (aka Lada 1600) is actually threatened by the Moskvich 2140 with 215,800 sales and 26.3% vs. 208,200 and 25.4%. Given this was the Moskvich’s last full year of sales it is reasonable to assume that it has led the USSR models ranking for at least a few years during the eighties and possibly seventies…

ZAZ 968M

Another forgotten model manages to hold itself within the USSR podium in 1987: the ZAZ 968M, also called Zaporozhets, with an impressive 116,500 units sold for a 14.2% market share. The Lada Samara is the fourth and last model to hold at least 10% of the Soviet market at #4 with 88,800 sales and 10.8%.

IZH 2125 Kombi

In 5th place, notice the IZH 2125 Kombi, and please raise your hand if you don’t live in Russia right now and knew about this model… I didn’t. Originally launched in 1973, the 2125 enjoyed a slight facelift in 1982 and would continue its career in Russia all the way through to 1997…

LUAZ 969M

Further down, notice all the iterations of the Lada “Zhigouli” ranking from #7 (2107) to #12 (2104) and the memerising LUAZ 969M 4×4 in 11th place with 11,200 sales.